Urban Jungle: Silk, the Ahimsa way

Ahimsa silk may sound like a clever marketing term, on the lines of cage-free chicken or grass-fed beef. You might be tempted to dismiss it as yet another ploy to lighten the purses of gullible greens — people who set out to save the world with plenty of disposable income in hand. That is, until you see a Tussar silk moth. As you gaze at this lustrous yellow creature, your questions about the value of Ahimsa silk will flow away with the pink rivers that run through its wings and your doubts will dissolve into the gorgeous silver moon patterns that adorn them. In all probability you are seeing this magnificent creature only because of Ahimsa silk.

To understand what a live Tussar silk moth symbolises, you need to be aware of the story of silk itself. The most popular form of silk is derived from the cocoons of the mulberry silkworm (Bombyx mori). Mulberry silk production is a highly industrialized process. The silkworms are reared in captivity, and fed an intensive diet of mulberry leaves. Their fate is sealed when they form their cocoons. In order to get a single, unbroken thread from each cocoon, uniformly white and free from any mineral deposits, the cocoon is dipped in boiling water well before the adults moth emerge from it. The pupa is killed instantly and, as a visit to any silk-reeling unit will reveal, dumped in heaps as industrial waste. Man has got what he needed from the silkworm, and has no further use for it.

But things can be done differently too. The mulberry silkworm is by no means the only source of silk. There are nearly 500 species of silkworms in the world, mostly found in the wild. A few of them are suitable for commercial silk production. The silk produced from these species is called wild silk. Though there are different ways to produce wild silk, the most widely accepted practice is the Ahimsa way. The cocoon is harvested after the moth leaves it. This impacts the fibre quality – the silk in each cocoon gets broken, and it’s much harder to process multiple smaller strands. Yet it’s worth the trouble. The resultant cloth has a unique appeal and is famous for its beautiful natural texture and sheen.

In India, the popular varieties of wild silk are Tussar (also spelt Tasar), Muga and Eri. Tussar silk is produced from the larvae of several species of silkworms belonging to the moth genus Antheraea. They live on forest trees and feed on the leaves of these trees. In Bengaluru, I have seen the Tussar silkworm feeding on the leaves of the local Ashoka tree (Polyalthia longifolia). The caterpillar is quite big and plump, typically with a green body. Within the species, though, there are many varieties or “ecoraces”, each adapted to a certain conditions. If you are lucky, you can also find bright yellow Tussar caterpillars, which are extremely striking.

The Tussar silk moth belongs to the Saturniidae family, which includes some of the largest moths in the world. It shows many of the family characteristics — a large body covered in hair-like scales with a small head. It also has eyespots on its wings – a feature evolved to scare away predators – that are silver coloured, almost like little moons. There are many colour variations within the species, but the most striking is the yellow variety (seen in picture, which was clicked in Bengaluru).

Tussar silk, when produced the Ahimsa way, provides employment to thousands of people living in tribal areas without harming the environment in any way. The beautiful fabric that emerges from the process has life woven into it, not death. And best of all, Ahimsa silks allows the Tussar silk moths to fly out of their cocoons and make the world more vibrant. Surely, this must count as a win-win situation for everybody.